Discent to Madness
by Smiely
Summary: The story of Pokemon trainers Red and Blue and their journeys. But what will happen when Blue loses his cool? PS: All events not centered around the rival are completely correct, and well within the limitations of the game. For example: All items found by the character are actually in those positions in the games.
1. Chapter 1

Dissent to Madness

Chapter 1: A Humble Beginning

My name is Red, and this is a memoir of my life. This is a story about me and my best friend, or perhaps my worst enemy, and our journeys with our Pokémon. I don't even know when or how to begin, but the day Blue and I received our first Pokémon from professor Oak seems like a good place to start. Blue and I lived in a very small town called Pallet. We were the only boys or even kids our age in the whole place, and had been best friends ever since we were babies. That was how it all started.

I still remember it like it was only yesterday, the crisp, sunny morning in Pallet town when Blue and I received our first Pokémon from Professor Oak, Blue's grandfather. At that time we had no idea we would be receiving our first Pokémon only later that day. Well, I haven't been completely honest, it was MY first Pokémon, Blue's first Pokémon was a Ratatta that his sister, Daisy Oak had caught for him just outside of town, when he was very young. That Ratatta never left his side and none of us dreamed what would one day happen to Blue and his Ratatta, but that's a story for another time.

"I bet you won't do it!" Blue goaded me.  
"Oh yeah? Bet I will! Wild Pokémon don't scare me!" I must admit, I DO remember being a bit nervous, walking in to the tall grass, where the wild Pokémon jump out and attack people with no warning. But I wasn't going to lose a bet to Blue. It wasn't a real bet of course, we were ten years old at the time; we had nothing to bet with. But our pride seemed like good a thing as any, so I wasn't going to back down.

I walked up to the edge and braced myself, but I never made it in to the tall grass, not then anyway. I heard very loud yelling from a familiar voice, so I stopped and turned around to see what was happening.  
"WAIT! What do you kids think you're doing!" the figure running across the yard was now close enough to be identified.  
"It's grandpa! Red, come on, let's make a break for it." We both knew that we weren't allowed to go in to the tall grass and that if our parents found out they would go nuts. Unfortunately, Blue doesn't have any parents, they both left when he was just a kid. What's more unfortunate about that is the fact that the Professor had become the closest thing he had to a parent. So now that old man Oak had caught us messing around with the tall grass, he was going to be very angry. And _that _was worse. At least, that's what I thought at the time.

Blue and I turned to run, but we were to slow, too late. Samuel grabbed the collars of our shirts and hauled us around to face him. His face was red with anger and exhaustion, the yard was quite a way for an old man like him to run. He looked at me menacingly and hissed through his teeth "I'll deal with you later, Red." He turned to Blue, his face turning from anger, to disappointment. "I'm very disappointed with you Blue; I would have expected better from you." And I knew that that made him feel so much worse than I did, even after getting yelled at.

Later that day I was complaining to myself for being confined to my room as punishment, when mum called me downstairs. "Red, Professor Oak wants to see you at his lab, so off you go, shoo." Mum hurried me out the door and sent me off to the lab. After quite a bit of walking, I finally arrived at the laboratory.  
When I went in, Blue was already waiting for me. "So grandpa called you here too huh, wonder what he wants." He didn't have to wait long for his answer, because mere seconds later, the old man walked through the door.  
"You're both probably wondering why I called you here, right?" We both nodded and the professor continued. "Well I've been talking it over with your families and we've decided to give you each one capable fighting Pokémon, for protection."

I remember the pure joy I felt at that moment. I can safely assume Blue felt it too, because his face lit up like a flamethrower from a Charizard, just like mine. Of course, that could have just been the light from the Charmander's tail Professor Oak just released from a Poké ball, reflected in our faces. Along with the other two Pokémon he let out, Bulbasaur and Squirtle. But those other two didn't interest me, not really. I remember not being able to take my eyes off that Charmander. I was like a moth to the flame, and without realizing it, I had taken a few paces closer to him. I remember wondering why I was so entranced by that one Pokémon, but neither of the others. If you asked me now, I still wouldn't be able to tell you. An educated guess might be that the fire in his tail reflected my youthful energy and my passion for Pokémon. But then, I was too young to think such complex thoughts, guess I just thought he was cool.

"Red" Samuel's voice cut through my little trance and I jumped a little at the shock. "This will be your very first Pokémon, won't it?"  
"Yes sir." I replied with a more than just noticeable stutter.  
"Come now Red, no need to talk like that to me, I've known you nearly as long as your own mother has. Anyway, let's forget about that." He paused for a moment, seeming to try and figure out how to phrase his next sentence. "Red, I'd like you to have first choice of what Pokémon you want. Go ahead and choose any you like."  
"But Gramps! That's not fair!" Blue blurted out.  
"Be reasonable Blue, unlike you, this is Red's first Pokémon. You have your Ratatta, but Red doesn't have a Pokémon of his own, just give him this will you?" Blue stopped to consider for a second. "Alright, I don't need to be greedy like you Red, hurry up and make your choice."  
"I don't need to" I said instantly. I walked over to the three Poké balls that now once again contained the three Pokémon. I picked up the ball on the right, containing Charmander and turned to face Professor Oak.

"I can really have it? It's _my _Pokémon?"  
" That's right Red; that Pokémon is yours from now on, and the privileges and responsibilities that come with it are also yours." He turned to face Blue "Sorry about that Blue, I hope you weren't hoping for Charmander, were you?"  
"What I _was_ hoping for was the opportunity to stick it to Red, and get a better Pokémon than him, and he just gave me that chance." Blue walked over to the table holding the Poké balls and picked up the one in the centre, containing the water type Pokémon, Squirtle.

"Since he just chose a fire type, my new water type Pokémon will destroy him every time." "Would you care to bet on that?" I retorted.  
"You bet." Blue challenged. They both jumped back as they threw their Poké balls forward. Red didn't waste any time. "Charmander, use scratch!" Charmander pounced across the few metres separating him from Squirtle and left claw marks on Squirtle's arm as he flew past. "Squirtle, turn around and use tackle!" Squirtle turned around and ran at Charmander, bouncing off the ground and tucking his head in to his shell when he got close enough. "Charmander, while he can't see! Dodge left, and hit him with your scratch attack on his way past!" The plan worked marvellously, sending Squirtle flying from the extra momentum generated when Squirtle was hit from behind by the scratch attack. He flew in to a close wall and drooped to the ground defeated. "Yeah! We did it Charmander! We won our very first battle!"

"Very well done Red, that was a marvellous display, and on your first time too, congratulations. I could see the bond between you and your Pokémon already. It must have seen how when prompted to choose your Pokémon you chose him without hesitation." Professor Oak turned to face Blue. "Don't feel bad Blue, Charmander was just too fast, not to mention that scratch is a better attack than tackle. His Charmander was dealing more damage, faster and with higher accuracy, why, it would have been a miracle if you had won.  
"Don't try to console me old man." Blue demanded bluntly. "It's oblivious why he won, his Pokémon is better than mine; I just picked the wrong Pokémon."

There was an awkward silence for a time, before a realization struck me. I turned to the professor and asked him a question he obliviously didn't want to hear. "Professor, when you said we had the privileges of owning a Pokémon, does that mean..?" I trailed off because I was sure he knew what I was going to say next. "Yes, Red; if you so choose, you two can go on your own Pokémon journeys." He reluctantly informed us. At this, the disappointment on Blue's face disappeared completely, and he became full of energy. "Really!?" Blue blurted out seemingly by accident. "In that case, Red, Gramps… smell ya later!" Blue sprinted out the door and ran towards the edge of town, near the area they were hanging around at earlier. After packing some things and saying some farewells, I followed Blue's example, and started for the next town, Viridian City. And that's how our training journeys with our Pokémon began.


	2. Chapter 2: The Eternally Green Paradise

Chapter 2: The Eternally Green Paradise

It was nearly nightfall by the time I reached Viridian City. The street lights had already been lit, and people were already eating dinner with their families. This just served to rub in the fact that I had no food. I was in such a rush when I had left home, that I didn't pack any food; in fact, my bag was also completely empty of anything.

The five poké balls the professor had given me had been used to capture a Rattata, costing me 2, one of which I lost after a failed capture, the other was housing Rattata now. The remaining 2/3 balls were tried and failed attempts to capture Pidgey, the final had been successful, and Pidgey was now keeping Charmander and Rattata company on my belt.

I recognised the building with the red roof in the distance as the Pokémon Centre, and set off in that direction. After a short walk, I was in the bustling Pokémon Centre, so after having my Pokémon restored to full health, and depositing Rattata and Pidgey in the PC box, I went to sleep in one of the travelling trainers sleeping quarters upstairs, leaving payment to my mother via PC transfer.

Now, you may be wondering why I stored 2/3 Pokémon, leaving me with only 1. It's because Blue had and used both those Pokémon, and while I didn't want him to have an advantage over me (which is why I caught them both in the first place,) I didn't want to be copying him either. I knew he already had his Rattata, and I saw him briefly on the way here, and he had 3 poké balls by his waist. One of them was his Squirtle, another was his Rattata, and so the third must have been the only Pokémon besides Rattata that calls route 1 its home: Pidgey. I knew Blue well enough to know that one of each type of Pokémon was enough for him, so I knew it couldn't be another Rattata.

When I woke in the morning I headed straight to the Poké Mart to buy more poké balls, I also stocked up on some repels, because I knew that Viridian Forest would be my next destination, and I heard that there were many poison type Pokémon lived there. So after buying some food for myself, I headed toward the direction the town map, I had picked up from Daisy, lead me.

It actually took me several hours for me to realise that I didn't know how to read a map. I had somehow ended up on route 22, instead of Route 2/Vermilion Forest. I had reached an extremely large building, and the guard at the front said something about me not being able to enter due to having no gym badges, but I wasn't really listening, I was more interested in finding the path to Route 2. I backtracked my steps, and found that by the time I had made it back far enough to see Viridian City, I had wasted nearly another whole day.

I had just reached the city limits, when a familiar voice stopped me in my tracks. "Hey Red! You just got back from the Pokémon League Reception Gate didn't you, Hah! A loser like you could never gain access to such a prestigious place!" I turned to see Blue leaning against a tree. But before I could respond, he pulled out his poké ball. "By the way, did your Pokémon get any stronger?" he challenged. He released his Pokémon from the ball, confirming my suspicions about him having a Pidgey. Assessing the situation, I noted that he had only 3 Pokémon, as opposed to my 4, which were Charmander, Spearow, Mankey, and Nidoran . Although mine were weakened while being captured, and Charmander was tired from fighting them.

I quickly thought of a strategy, and out Spearow. Although, calling it a 'strategy' would be giving it too much credit, I just wanted to annoy Blue by sending out my own flying type. It would make us seem like equals, and I knew that Blue's sizeable ego definitely wouldn't like that. And Blue obliviously saw though it right away, because his next words extinguished any hope I had of making him do something stupid. "Really Red? That's a cheap trick." I shrugged off this minor annoyance and commenced the battle.

"Spearow, use leer!" Spearow's glare on Pidgey seemed to shock it somewhat, but that didn't stop it from producing a powerful 'Gust' attack on command. Spearow was locked in place by the 'Gust' unable to back down, or press forward, because either of those things would cause it to lose its balance. "Spearow, fold your wings in!" Spearow's wings collapsed inwards and it took a steep dive to the ground. "Now attack its underside with Peck!" Having been freed from the onslaught of wind, Spearow soared forward then changed to a 90˚ angle, shooting upwards to avoid being in range of the Gust attack. Spearow's aim was slightly off, however, due to being caught in a sustained wind attack, it's balance and weighting were off slightly, cutting Pidgey on the wing rather than ramming in to its stomach. Pidgey flinched with pain, but when Blue called for Pidgey to "chase down and tackle that Spearow," no time was wasted.

Spearow should have been faster, it's just a naturally faster Pokémon, but was tired for his capture, and short battle with Pidgey. And Pidgey's level and experience in combat proved the better of Spearow, and allowed Pidgey to slam in to Spearow's back, causing him to spiral down to earth.

Spearow had clearly been defeated, and Blue was every kind of smug about it. But I didn't want him making any smart-ass remarks, so I hurried to send out Charmander. Blue looked surprised, "I figured you'd send out your all-powerful Charmander to face my big, bad, scary Squirtle." I ignored his drabble and kicked off the battle with a quick "Ember!" A small but dangerous torrent of fire gushed from Charmander's mouth. Pidgey's attempted dodge was hindered by the cut on its wing, and the flame burned through some of its flight feathers, causing it to fall to the ground, down but not out. "Charmander, finish him with a Scratch attack!" Charmander charged, but was too late. "Pidgey, Sand-Attack, now!" A stream of sand had been kicked up, and Charmander couldn't see his target. Unfortunately, thanks to Pidgey's "Keen Eye" ability, Blue didn't have that problem, and acting on its own initiative, tackled Charmander to the ground. But, also on his own initiative, Charmander blazed his tail to life, and Pidgey who was unfortunate enough to be standing above it, was severely burned and KO'd.

The trainers had seen the little display and it caused Blue quite a bit of grief from me for that. But Blue was moving on and had sent out Squirtle. Who, after a quick word from blue, released a flurry of bubbles from his mouth, aimed at Charmander. Charmander was out for the count, but I can't say I wasn't expecting this; in fact, it presented me with and opportunity. It gave me lead way to send in Mankey without losing an attack due to switch-out time. Scratch collided with tackle, causing a mark to be left on Squirtle's cheek, and Mankey to be sent flying in to a rock.

Both trainers thought it was over for Mankey, but all this seemed to just make it angrier. It swiped at Squirtle again with renewed valour, and left a deep red gash on Squirtle's cheek. This seemed to pain Squirtle quite a lot, but served no immediate purpose, as Mankey was forced to drop its guard to its stomach, leaving it open for Squirtle to tackle, hitting it with the brunt of his shell.

I was down to just my Nidoran and called him for my last stand. Fortunately, I had taken a liking to Nidoran and saw it fit to train him somewhat. "Double Kick!" I commanded, and Nidoran sprung forward, kicking Squirtle with one leg after the other. With the second kick, Squirtle seemed to develop some sort of sickly complexion, but I paid no heed to it. Squirtle's next tackle attack seemed especially powerful though, and my pokédex even vibrated and displayed on the screen "Critical Hit!" Nidoran flew in to the rock from earlier, and slumped to the ground there, defeated.

I remember the joy I felt once I realized that my Nidoran's _Poison Point _ability had caused Squirtle to faint as well. But in the end, he still beat me, but his next words puzzled me to the point that I'm not sure I DID lose. "Damn, why can't I beat you?!" I sprung up at this remark, hopeful, "But don't you have Rattata with you? You could use it and win. It looked like Blue was considering his next words. "I… don't feel as though I can use Rattata for battling."  
"Why not?" I inquired curiously  
"I just… can't," and he left, not even accepting my prize money.

I spent the prize money Blue wouldn't accept from me on more poké balls, he had said, "Tying with you is just as bad as losing" and walked off. This did agitate me somewhat, but I didn't lose any sleep over it, and in the morning, I was ready to take on Viridian Forest.


	3. Chapter 3: Journey Through Bosque Verde

Chapter 3: Journey through Bosque Verde

I stood in awe of the amazing size of the expanse of trees laid out before me. I had never seen so much green, or so much of any colour for that matter. There was also a considerable amount of brown thrown in the lot. And if you're the kind of person who misinterpreted that, just stop reading, because I was referring to the trees. Just judging from the outside view, it would take me at least 3 or 4 days to traverse, and everyone knows that things take longer than expected when it comes to travelling. I wouldn't be surprised if it took me as long as a week. And, working by that logic, I came to the conclusion that the earlier I started, the earlier I'd finish, so I set off in to the depths of the forest.

5 minutes in and I couldn't see the plains I just left behind me. 10 minutes in and all I could hear was bug Pokémon noises. And it took a whole 15 minutes to realize this would be a very long and tedious voyage. After about an hour, I saw a Caterpie and began stalking it because I was bored and had nothing better to do. After a while it changed direction, meaning it wasn't heading the same direction as me, so I initiated battle with it. I considered Charmander, but then figured that I didn't want to kill it, so I chose the only other Pokémon I decided keep with me: Nidoran. I hope I don't still have to say male.

"Nidoran, us horn attack!" I actually felt bad for attacking and hurting such a seemingly weak and helpless Pokémon for nothing, and it didn't help when it made a little squealing sound when the attack made contact. But moping over it wasn't going to help, so I pulled out a Poké ball and threw it. It never ceases to amaze me, even to this day, the amazing accuracy of a trainer when throwing a Poké ball. It shook once, twice, then after a half-shake, a red light flashed from the button on the ball, and the capture had been confirmed.

Day 2 in the forest was a little more exciting. I encountered a huge tree that dwarfed the others in comparison, and for some unknown reason, there was an antidote at the base of the tree trunk. After that, I finally decided to catch one of the Weedles I had seen so many of in the past day and a half. And I would later come to regret that, because not an hour later, I encountered a Kakuna, the evolved form of Weedle. But because of my stubborn man-pride, I decided that my Weedle was better anyway, and battled it 1 on 1. After a long and boring battle, Weedle prevailed, apparently poison sting works better in battle than using nothing but harden. But it had taken just under half an hour to finish it up, because harden can get quite annoying after a time.

In the later half of the day, I ran in to a fellow trainer, a bug catcher named Rick. He also had a Caterpie and a Weedle, and they were about equal skill level to mine, but I wasn't going to tell this kid that. I made sure to arrange it so that our Pokémon of the same type would contend with each other, but after some lucky hits and misses, he forced me to withdraw my Caterpie, and with the help of Weedle I was able to successfully defeat his Pokémon. Now with only his Weedle left, I decided to fuck this shit, and just use Charmander. But just because I'm mean like that, I had Caterpie deliver the finishing blow, so he could get at least some of the experience. And after the battle, Caterpie shot some string shot up in the air, and once it enveloped his whole body, his new shell was revealed.

Day 3 revealed 2 new battles with bug catches Doug and Anthony, and with them, 2 victories, but hard fought, and I had to use the antidote I found under the tree. Fortunately, I found another one just lying there in the middle of the road, no joke. No seriously, I'm not making this up. Later, I saw a Pidgeotto, but it got away from me before I even had the chance to battle it. I headed towards the direction I had seen it fly off too. After about a minute I saw sparks flying and a bright flash of light, followed by the cry of a Pidgeotto. Had another trainer attacked and captured it? I set off to find out. I came across the clearing where the light came from and looked around. What I saw couldn't have surprised me more. A small yellow mousey-looking Pokémon was standing over the unconscious body of the Pidgeotto. A large open cut on the Pikachu's ear was proof that a battle had been fought here, not just a one-sided attack. Then something out of the corner of my eye got my attention. A large nest was nestled in a nearby tree, and I suddenly knew what happened. The Pidgeotto had returned to its next to find an intruder in its territory, and one that definitely couldn't be perceived as a meal. Pidgeotto attacked the Pikachu, trying to get it to leave, but Pikachu's retaliation had clipped Pidgeotto's wings, sending it plummeting towards the ground. Well, this didn't take a genius. I walked over and more dropped than threw the Poké ball at the immobile bird Pokémon.

It was like a scene out of a samurai movie, the leaves on the trees were rustling ever so slightly, the grass was swaying just that little bit, and the opposing teams were each standing at their respective ends of a grassy field. I picked out Charmander's Poké ball from my belt and held it out in front of me. Electricity jumped from one of Pikachu's ears to the other. The quiet scene erupted with the violence of battle. "Charmander, Smokescreen!" But Pikachu was faster, hitting Charmander directly with a Thunder Shock attack. Charmander endured it though (not literally), because even though this Pikachu was clearly powerful, Charmander dwarfed it when it came to level. The plume of smoke that came shooting from Charmander mouth came in to effect, and Pikachu couldn't see 2 feet in front of him. "Ember" I said calmly and coolly, knowing I had won. Pikachu turned to flee, but Charmander reacted on its own, aiming it's ember at the ground instead of Pikachu himself. Pikachu found itself facing a line of fire instead of a grassy plain. As it turned around the only thing it saw was a Poké ball before blacking out. It didn't actually black out, it probably just thought it did, because it was sucked into the ball. It shook once…twice…and a red light flashed in the middle. Capture successful.

Day 4 was basically a repeat of day 1. Nothing happened all day. I saw a bug catcher staring intently at some trees, and decided not to bother him. Later in the day, I battled a Weedle with my own, because I was so bored. Afterwards, Weedle shone very brightly, and after he had done his thing, I returned Kakuna to its poké ball. I'd seen a beautiful girl about my age, with long brown hair and wearing a one-piece black dress. I saw Poké balls lined at her waist and considered battling her. Yes, I know, that's not the first thing I should be thinking when I see a beautiful girl, but I was ten at the time and didn't know any better, so fuck you. I rethought my idea of battling her when I saw her battle a wild Pikachu. After doting over how "cute" it was for about 5 minutes, she suddenly attacked without warning, getting her Ivysaur to start and finish the battle with a single Vine Whip attack. I seemed to have the faintest feeling that I'd seen that girl somewhere before. After pondering for a while, I came up empty. Moving on… I found large clearing and decided to set up camp. Doing nothing all day is tiring. I laid out my sleeping bag and climbed inside. I laid my head down but it never touched the ground, I felt it bump into something. I twisted around in my bag to find a potion, just lying there, and it wasn't mine. Goddamn it, are people leaving these things here on purpose, this was the fifth item I'd found "just lying there" in the time I'd been in the forest; 2 antidotes, a Poké ball and a potion, making this potion number 2. I put it in my bag and went promptly to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4: An Old Friend

Chapter 4: An Old Friend

I woke up on day 5 feeling very hungry. I reached into my bag, my eyes still half closed, for a snack. It was empty. My eyes shot open and I pulled my bag over to me desperately feeling inside it. There was nothing, no food, items, nothing. I had been robbed! In the middle of a forest! But then I noticed something. My water flask was still there. I picked it up and shook it. I could hear the water swirling around inside. That was good, but I could feel my face turning deathly white as something even more horrible occurred to me. I fumbled with the zip to my Poké ball pouch, where I had left my Pokémon, desperately trying to open it. They were all there. I could feel colour returning to my face as I sighed with relief. But this didn't make sense. Someone stole my food and items, but not my water and Pokémon? Pokémon are much more valuable than anything else I had in my bag. Even… I opened my wallet, and sure enough, all my money was gone. But still, if someone had stolen my Pokémon and sold them, they would be worth at least triple compared to what was in my wallet. But my relief turned to rage when I remembered the fact that my **food** was gone. "Pikachu! Go!" Pikachu's somewhat acute sense of smell should be enough to track down the thief. And just in case, "Pidgeotto! Take to the skies and find the thief! Pikachu, try and sniff them out." I knew it was a bad idea to send both of them out at the same time, they still fought with each other, but I didn't care. Pikachu caught the sent immediately, tugging on my pants to let me know and running off in the direction of the mystery thief. I turned around and recalled Pidgeotto, then chased after Pikachu.

After running for a couple of minutes, I caught a glimpse of someone through the trees. Pikachu noticed it too and began to run faster. Looks like this was our guy. I burst through the tree layer to find myself looking at… A GIRL! Not just any random girl either, the same brown haired beauty from yesterday. That explained how Pikachu found her so easily, she, like most girls was wearing perfume. It wasn't strong, but it was there. She turned around when she noticed me. I looked at her blue eyes. "Wait a minute… GREEN!?" I blurted out without thinking. That got her attention, and she spun around all the way. I saw the recognition in her face. "Red! How you doin' sweetie!" She always used to call me that back in Pallet Town. Green was a Girl who used to live in Pallet Town, nearly a year older than Blue and I. She called me "sweetie" presumably just to embarrass me. Oh, and to piss off Daisy. Daisy and I kind of had a thing, (although no one ever admitted it, not even me or Daisy herself, but it was oblivious) and she always got really angry when Green called me that. Green had left on her Pokémon training journey nearly a year ago. Sometimes she would even write to us, not often, but it happened. She always made a point to refer to me as "sweetie" in these letters, and always addressed them to Daisy, even though we all knew the letter was for everyone. Pikachu interrupted our short conversation by running over to her and sniffing in her bag, then releasing what kind of sounded like a growl. "Oh yeah! You stole all my stuff!"  
"Did I?" Green questioned. She was starting to get on my nerves.  
"Pikachu Thunder Sho-." But Green cut me off.  
"Ok, ok, I'll give you back your stuff, no need to violent over it." She swung her bag on to the ground and removed my stuff. I put the stuff back into my bag. "Come on we have some catching up to do." She said and gestured for me to follow. I hesitated, I wasn't sure if I wanted to go for a walk with a thief. "Come now sweetie, you know I'd never steal from you." She said with a smile.  
"You already have!" I half-shouted at her accusingly.  
"I didn't know it was you, for that matter, I thought you and Blue were still in Pallet Town." I hesitated once more, but eventually decided to walk with her. I **actually** believed her. It was less of "catching up," and more of me asking her a barrage of questions. "Your last letter said you had made it to Cerulean City, what are you doing back here?"  
"I heard that Pikachu can be found in this forest, and I'd go ANYwhere for a cute Pokémon."  
"How many gym badges have you got?"  
She flipped open the carry case made for Pokémon badges. The Boulder, Cascade, and Thunder badges were lined up neatly. "So you've made some progress from last time you wrote" I remarked. "Ok, what's your team like?"  
"See for yourself." And she pulled the Poké balls from her waist and threw them in to the air. She had a full team of six. I said their names out-loud as I looked through them. "Ivysaur, Jigglypuff, Vulpix, Sandslash, Pikachu and Staryu." Noting that she had only caught her Pikachu yesterday, I asked my fourth question. "Are you planning on keeping Pikachu as part of your official team?"  
She looked as if she was considering the question, and then came to a decision. "Nah, I'll box 'im for now." That was a relief, having the same Pokémon on my team as Green would suck, and I wasn't willing to give up my Pikachu. Then it was her turn to ask me about my team, and I responded in kind, releasing all my Pokémon so she could take a look. She did the same thing I did, "Charmander, Nidoran , Pikachu, Pidgeotto, Kakuna and Metapod. You've got a good team for a newbie."  
"What'd you call me?!" I asked forcefully. "You want me to show me who the newbie really is?" She raised an eyebrow at me  
"Really? Are you sure, think carefully about this."  
"I don't need to" I said confidently.  
"Your mistake, I guess." And she was right, but I didn't know that at the time.

The battle wasn't even worth describing, but I'm going to anyway. She wasted me, completely and utterly destroyed me. And what's worse, she deliberately set it up so my Pokémon would be super-effective against hers, just so she could show me how weak I really was. Charmander VS Ivysaur, Ivysaur grabbed Charmander's leg with its Vine Whip and threw it against a tree. One down. Pikachu VS Staryu, Staryu's Water Pulse forcefully threw water at Pikachu's face, and confusing it in the process. Pikachu stumbled around and tripped over Charmander's unconscious body, falling flat on its face. Two down. Pidgeotto VS Ivysaur, Ivysaur's Razor Leaf cut most of Pidgeotto's flight feathers, and left cuts all over his body. After Pidgeotto fell to the ground, Ivysaur finished him off with a Body Slam attack, sending Pidgeotto flying. Three down. Three down, and Green hadn't taken any damage. Nidoran VS Ivysaur, Green had become confident enough to give me the first attack. But Nidoran's Horn Attack never made contact. When Nidoran got close Ivysaur simply bitch-slapped it with its vine. I was hoping Poison Point might come into effect, but I ended up disappointed. Now Ivysaur alone had defeated three of my Pokémon, all of which had an advantage, without taking any damage. In fact, Ivysaur didn't even look tired.

The only two Pokémon I had left were Kakuna and Metapod. "Red… sometimes being a good trainer is knowing when you've lost." I stood there, speechless. I looked away, hiding my face under my hat, "fine." I recalled my Pokémon and turned away. I could hear her footsteps coming towards me. "You know something; you've really grown up Red." I didn't notice the first time, but that was the second time today she'd called me by my actual name. She continued, "The old Red I knew would never have admitted defeat, even at the expense of his Pokémon getting hurt." I looked up at her and she smiled at me. She held out her hand and opened her closed fist. She was holding out four revives. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have let you challenge me, the least I can do is help tend to your injured Pokémon. And consider it repayment for stealing from you. I accepted the revives, but still raised the point that she returned everything she stole. "Yeah about that… you might want to re-check the amount of money I gave you. I looked at her suspiciously and opened my wallet. Sure enough, I was about 200 poké dollars short. "Are you fucking serious!?" I exclaimed. But before I could confront her about it, I became too stunned to follow her. She walked over to me, kissed me on the cheek, and ran off into the forest, turning around once to wave goodbye.


	5. Chapter 5: The Stone Grey City

Chapter 5: The Stone Grey City

It was early in day 6 when I say the gate leading to the northern side of route 2. I ran over to it. I'd had enough of this fucking forest. I was kind of disappointed that I had split up with Green. What's better than travelling the country with a cute girl? But whatever, I didn't care overly much. I was on my way towards my first badge, and that was all that mattered. I'd catch up to Green and then show her who the "newbie" was. And to do that, I'd have to grow stronger by challenging all the gyms. And it wasn't just Green; Blue had defeated me in our last match as well, even if he didn't admit it. I passed through the gate and found myself facing an open field. But goddamn, the sun was bright. I guess after not being able to see it for 5 days really lowers your tolerance for it. There was such little sunlight in the forest; I had almost forgotten what it looked like after just five days.

It took about half an hour to traverse the rest of route 2 before I came across Pewter City. It wasn't quite as big as Viridian City, but it was still a hell of a lot bigger than Pallet Town. I could see the gym from here, and in my haste to challenge it, I nearly forgot to heal my Pokémon and restock my item and food supply. By the time I'd made it to the heart of the city, then the Pokémon Center and mart, the Gym was closed for the day. After saying a line of comments unsuitable for small children, I headed back to the Pokémon Center so I could get some sleep before my battle tomorrow.

I guess when it's the first decent sleep you've had in nearly a week, it's easy to sleep in. By the time I woke up, it was already midday. I threw my jacket and gloves on, grabbed my bag, clipped my Poké ball on to my belt, and set off towards the gym. As I approached, I saw the door fling open from the inside. Great, I could ask a potential challenger what their battle was like. I began to walk faster to catch them before they left. But I hid behind a tree once I saw who it was. And at the same time, my earlier inquiry was answered as well.

I saw Blue fitting the Boulder Badge into his Badge case. He looked over to my direction, but he couldn't possibly see me. But I was apparently mistaken. "Hey Red! Watcha hiding for?" I stepped out from behind the tree.  
"How'd you know I was there?" I inquired.  
"You must think I'm some kind of idiot" be commented.  
"Because you are." We both broke out in laughter. This is how it always went, we'd hurl friendly insults at each other, but at the end of the day, we were still best friends. In fact, that's probably the reason. Nothing had changed. I thought he might resent me after the battle we had. His reaction at the time worried me that it might have grown in to a problem. But apparently not. He walked over and placed his hand on my shoulder, then gestured towards the gym with his other hand.  
"But seriously Red, you'll do just fine." And with that, he began to walk away. Just as I started walking again myself, Blue called after me; "And if you don't win, I'll never let you live it down!" I turned around to see him sticking his tongue out at me, so I gave him the finger and walked in to the gym. I could hear his laughter from all the way in here, and admittedly, the corners of my mouth had turned as well.

When I went inside, there was a long passageway with a platform at the far end. I could see the gym leader, Brock standing on the platform, awaiting his next challenger. I ran down the path in the middle ready for my badge. But then I was suddenly reminded of what gyms are really like, when some kid yelled at me and challenged me to battle. He was a gym trainer, if I didn't accept; I couldn't face the gym leader. So my showdown with some moron who thought light years were a measurement of time began. But he must have thought I was the moron when I sent Charmander out to face Geodude. Of course I had a strategy, but this kid didn't know that.

Charmander's Metal Claw finished his Geodude in one blow, and without a fight. He stood there dumbstruck. He sent out a Sandshrew, not saying anything because he still couldn't believe what he just saw. I was about to change Pokémon, as I was hoping Metapod would evolve before I faced Brock, and according to my pokédex, this should just about do it. But there was something else my pokédex was trying to tell me. Something I should have been keeping an eye out for. I didn't need to flip open the pokédex to figure it out, Charmander was evolving! A white light flashed, and Charmander was suddenly a Charmeleon. Charmander had plenty of chance to raise it's level against all the bug types of Viridian forest. Alright! If I really could evolve Metapod in this battle, Brock didn't stand a chance! I didn't take any chances, after the first attack, I recalled Metapod and had Charmeleon finish the fight with a Scratch. Sure enough, a light shone from inside Metapod's Poké ball. I looked through the translucent top half of the Poké ball, and saw a Butterfree inside. I looked around, and saw that there were no other gym trainers, just the leader.

I walked the rest of the way. My eagerness had turned into nervousness. This would be my first gym battle ever. But no time to back down. I stopped briefly on the stairs leading up to the platform to organize my team. Brock was a rock type trainer, so my best bet was to use Nidoran and its Double Kick that it learned recently. Now that I think about it, I suppose Nidoran should be pretty soon as well. I looked at the pokédex. Two levels off, damn. Unless Nidoran can singlehandedly defeat Brock, he wouldn't be evolving in this battle. Enough procrastinating, it was time to win the Boulder Badge. I walked the rest of the stairs and faced Brock. "Gym Leader Brock, I hereby challenge you to battle for the Boulder Badge." I stated confidently.  
"You're going to challenge me knowing that you'll lose? That's the Trainer's honour that compels you to challenge me. Fine, then! Show me your best!"

Round 1: Nidoran VS Geodude. "Nidoran, Double Kick!"  
"Geodude, tackle" Of course Nidoran went first, landing one foot after the other and then bouncing off. Geodude barely held on just after that one attack. But he did, and that gave him to opportunity to execute the Tackle attack. Nidoran flew across the room but skidded to a stop and jumped back on to its feet. "Again, Double Kick!"  
I didn't wait for Brock to give his Pokémon a command, it would be over anyway. And that held true, Geodude's HP fell to 0, and Brock recalled his unconscious Pokémon. Next was Onix, I decided to stay with Nidoran in the hope that he could defeat it by himself. I knew it was unrealistic, but it was worth a shot.

Only later did I realize that it most certainly wasn't worth a shot. His Onix's Rock Tomb KO'd Nidoran before he could get an attack in. Understandable, considering Onix's higher base stat and the fact that Nidoran had already received Geodude's Tackle. I considered my options; Pidgeotto and Pikachu were definitely out. Pidgeotto wouldn't be able to do any damage, and for Pikachu, that was literal. I had boxed Kakuna yesterday, so that just left Butterfree and Charmeleon. I decided to use Charmeleon as a last resort and had my Butterfree take him on. Unlike Nidoran, Butterfree was faster than Onix, hurting it greatly with Confusion. My hopes of an easy victory were dashed when Onix KO'd Butterfree with one Rock Tomb attack, just like with Nidoran. Charmeleon was my last hope, if he fainted, I'd lose.

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Charmeleon was about two times faster than Onix, and it's Metal Claw finished Onix with damage to spare. I had won…"YEAH!" I couldn't help myself; I had just taken my first step towards the Pokémon league. Brock waited until I had finished my little outburst, and then held his open palm out, with the Boulder Badge rested in it. "I confer on you this...the official Pokémon League Boulder Badge. Just having the Boulder Badge makes your Pokémon more powerful. Take it, you've earned it." I accepted the Badge, unfolded the inside of my jacket, pinned it in, and folded it back in.

After my victory at the Pewter Gym, I headed back to the Pokémon Center to get some sleep before I headed off too route 3 in the morning. This time I woke up early, with renewed energy. I was going to hunt down Blue and challenge him to a re-match. And the Cerulean City Gym leader better watch out as well, because I'm on my way to victory.


End file.
